Chapter 12 - The Blackwood Rules
Gabriel’s hideout had no windows facing the street.
He called it practical.
I called it depressing.
Rosa called it “better than being dead,” which ended the debate.
We spent the night surrounded by files. Gabriel had built an entire case out of stolen invoices, anonymous tips, clinic records, and photographs taken from shadows. He knew which Blackwood charities were real, which were laundering machines, and which doctors had signed reports for patients they never examined.
Most importantly, he knew how my mother had found them.
“Anna volunteered at the foundation,” Gabriel said, standing before the map wall. “She was assigned to patient outreach. Diabetes supplies, insulin access programs, pediatric grants. She noticed children listed as receiving devices who didn’t exist.”
My stomach tightened.
“So they were stealing medical funds.”
“Worse,” Gabriel said. “They used real patients too. Overbilling, ghost prescriptions, redirected shipments. Your mother found a pattern.”
“And Evelyn killed her for it?”
“Evelyn ordered fear. Peter handled the fall. Alistair cleaned the paper trail.”
Marcus stood near the door, silent.
I avoided looking at him.
I could forgive many things slowly.
But leaving me with Peter Monroe because it was strategic would not be one of them.
Thomas arrived near morning with Agent Cole and Detective Harris. He looked older than he had the day before, but when he saw Gabriel, everything in him changed.
“Gabriel,” he whispered.
My brother stiffened.
Thomas took one step forward, then stopped.
He had learned quickly.
“I won’t touch you,” Thomas said. “I just need to see your face.”
Gabriel looked away.
“You saw my file.”
“That is not the same.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “Files usually care more.”
Thomas absorbed that like a bullet.
I understood Gabriel then.
We were twins in more than blood.
We had both learned to distrust rescue when it arrived decades late.
Agent Cole spread documents across the table.
“We have enough for warrants on several Blackwood properties,” she said. “But the foundation board meets tomorrow morning. If Alistair shifts control before we freeze assets, he can destroy records faster than we can subpoena them.”
“What board?” I asked.
Thomas answered. “The Ashford Medical Foundation. After my father died, I retained funding authority, but voting control was divided. Anna’s documents suggest she transferred her shares to her children.”
“To us,” Gabriel said.
Thomas nodded. “If verified, Elena and Gabriel together control the board.”
I almost laughed.
Yesterday, I had been the embarrassing diabetic bridesmaid.
Today, I apparently controlled a medical foundation powerful people had stolen from.
“Can we stop the meeting?” I asked.
Agent Cole said, “Legally, yes, if you appear and assert your rights with documentation.”
Gabriel shook his head. “That’s exactly what they want. Put Elena in a public room, call her unstable, challenge the documents, create chaos.”
“They already did that,” I said. “It worked for a while.”
Marcus looked at me. “You don’t have to be the one in the room.”
“Yes,” I said. “I do.”
Gabriel turned. “No.”
I met his eyes.
He was a stranger and my brother, which made arguing with him feel both new and ancient.
“They built this entire machine because our mother tried to speak,” I said. “I’m not hiding while lawyers translate her courage into paperwork.”
Thomas’s eyes shone.
Gabriel looked angry.
But underneath the anger was fear.
For me.
I wasn’t used to that from family.
Detective Harris’s phone rang. He answered, listened, and lowered it slowly.
“What?” Agent Cole asked.
“Evelyn made bail.”
The room exploded.
Thomas slammed a hand on the table. “How?”
“Emergency hearing. Medical hardship, no prior convictions, high community standing.”
Rosa threw up her hands. “She poisoned someone at a wedding.”
“Allegedly,” Detective Harris said grimly.
I closed my eyes.
Money did not erase crime.
It bought grammar.
Attempted poisoning became alleged incident.
Abuse became misunderstanding.
Flight became medical hardship.
Agent Cole continued reading the update. “She’s restricted from contacting Elena directly.”
Gabriel laughed. “Like that matters.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A video appeared.
Chloe, sitting in a bedroom I recognized as part of Blackwood House, eyes swollen, voice shaking.
“Elena, please. They won’t let me leave unless you stop. Julian says if the board meeting happens, everything gets worse. I’m scared.”
The video ended.
Rosa whispered, “Is she asking for help or baiting you?”
Both.
That was the worst part.
Chloe could be selfish and trapped.
Cruel and afraid.
Guilty and in danger.
Humans were inconvenient that way.
A second message followed.
Come alone to Bellefleur Chapel tonight. Or Chloe pays for what you started.
Gabriel grabbed the phone.
“No.”
Marcus said the same word.
Thomas too.
I stared at Chloe’s frozen face on the screen.
“She helped them hurt me,” I said.
No one spoke.
“But if I let them hurt her to punish me, I become them.”
Agent Cole’s expression sharpened. “We can set surveillance.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “They’ll expect that.”
Marcus looked at me.
“You have a plan.”
I did.
It formed slowly, dangerously, from every lesson Evelyn had taught me.
People like her expected victims to beg, hide, or explode.
They did not expect victims to learn.
“We go to the chapel,” I said.
Gabriel shook his head.
I looked at him.
“But not alone. And not as bait.”
I picked up my mother’s old cassette transcript from the table.
“We give Evelyn exactly what she loves most.”
May you like
“What?” Thomas asked.
“An audience.”
